Real-life Grinch steals Salvation Army kettle, police say

The search is on for a real-life Grinch, after police said a thief stole a Salvation Army kettle from a bell-ringer Wednesday night.

The theft happened about 6 p.m. Wednesday outside a grocery store.

For more than a century, the Salvation Army has been ringing in the spirit of giving, but outside the Kroger store across the street from the Summit shopping center, a person decided to take from a woman who was there to ring the bell.

"She turned around and just noticed the kettle was missing. The chains were just swinging, and at that point, she turned back around and watched a gentleman taking off running," said Lt. Boris Davis with the Salvation Army.

The thief stole the whole kettle, filled with nearly a full day's worth of cash.

The Kroger manager and a customer gave chase, but the modern-day Grinch got away.

The theft comes just two weeks after the Salvation Army kicked off its 122nd Red Kettle campaign, with high hopes of raising enough money to cover services hit hard by the tough economy.

The Salvation Army suspects the same fragile economy caused the man, who might otherwise have gotten help from them, to resort to stealing.

"To be honest with you, what I think is that it's someone who's hurting. I think he's desperate at this time of year," said Davis.

That may be, but police are on the case, and they want to catch the thief before he strikes again.

Witnesses described the thief as being of possible Indian descent.

He made his getaway with help from a driver who police said was waiting in a gold, four-door car.

Anyone with information should call police anonymously at 502-574-LMPD.

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